


The Collectors

by VigilPanda



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Grand Theft Auto Setting, Fake AH Crew, M/M, Multi, Psychological Torture, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-13
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-07-14 22:08:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7192796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VigilPanda/pseuds/VigilPanda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first fan fiction. Sorry if it's complete rubbish. I'm posting it as it is now because if I don't I'll never post it and I will just continue editing it forever. I'm incredibly nervous about posting it, but I'm doing it anyway! I hope you enjoy it.</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Holding on

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fan fiction. Sorry if it's complete rubbish. I'm posting it as it is now because if I don't I'll never post it and I will just continue editing it forever. I'm incredibly nervous about posting it, but I'm doing it anyway! I hope you enjoy it.

Michael groaned as he opened his eyes. His head was pounding, his left leg ached and his face was bloody and bruised. Where was he? What the fuck had happened. It took a minute for his vision to focus, He didn't recognize the room. It was plain, windowless and sharply white. It didn't have any of the clutter or warmth that the house he shared with his boyfriends had. No jackets and shirts laying around, no sink full of dirty dishes, no cup rings, no faint smell of alcohol, nothing. He quickly after realized he had been drugged. He knew what it felt like, the awful taste and dryness in your mouth, the fuzzy memories and vision, so he knew something was wrong. Then the events of the past day rushed into his aching head. He groaned. Fuck. He wished he could just go into his drug induced unconsciousness and not have to deal with any of this. Why couldn't it have just worked out as planned? 

It was supposed to have been a normal bank heist. They hadn't done a heist in a while and Geoff wanted to prove that the Fake AH Crew were still top dog, it was also going to be Jeremy's initiation heist. So it was an important one. The setup had been simple, Geoff was in disguise inside the bank giving them information through their synced ear pieces. Ray and Ryan were on the roof across the street with sniper rifles aimed at the street below, they would take down any cops who showed up. Jack was flying the helicopter, which was their getaway vehicle, with Jeremy in the back on guns. He and Gavin were standing nearby armed to the teeth and ready to cause havoc. After Geoff had given them the signal over their ear pieces, he and Gavin had rushed inside, guns blazing. Everything was going perfectly, everyone inside had listened to their demands, the clerks were getting them the money, he and Gavin hadn't even needed to harm any civilians, when suddenly there was a deafening explosion and the entire side of the bank was blown in. He and Gavin were thrown to the tiled floor. As the smoke from the white brick building clepared he saw five men and two women walk in. They all wore goggles, surgical masks and black jumpers. The whole getup was disconcerting and was new to him. Normally each gang had something they normally wore or did on heists that made them iconic and known, like Ryan's mask, or his bomber jacket, so the fact that he'd never seen there outfit before was surprising. He thought he knew all of the gangs in the area, but they had been hanging low for a while after the incident with Ray and Gavin in that convenience store. Four of them had gone after Michael while he was recovering, they had grabbed him and hauled him off to their vehicle, but not without a fight. He gotten in some good hits before they had knocked him out. He had then woken up in a room similar to this one. They had beat him up yesterday and he vaguely remembered getting shot in the leg at some point, which would explain the pain. He looked down at his leg which had been tied off above the knee to slow the bleeding and they had bandaged the wound, but he could feel the bullet still inside his calf. He scowled, what shitty doctoring. They had been trying to get him to tell them where the rest of the crew was, but they eventually seemed to grow tired of repeatedly punching him in the face and gut. Everyone in the Fake AH Crew, except Ray who was a real stealthy son of a bitch and Jeremy who had joined less than a month ago, had been kidnapped at least once over the time they had been together. He knew the crew would come for him like they always did, it was just a matter of holding out until they figured out where he was. He looked down at the table in front of him. His arms were tightly latched down at the wrist and elbows with metal bands. This was on top of being bound to a chair which was fused to the floor. He must have really scared them yesterday, he smiled. He prided himself on being tough, a stubborn fighter, someone who never gave up. He wondered what kind of hell they were planning for him. Let them do their worst, he dared. Suddenly a thought struck him, was Gavin here? They had both been in the building yesterday, a man and a woman had gone after him. It was entirely possible he was being tortured right now. The thought of them beating up Gavin like they had beat up him made him sick. He hoped he had gotten away. He hoped he was safe. If they had hurt a hair on his head he would make them pay.

He looked up as he heard the door open. Stepping into the room was a large skinny man with short dark hair, he recognised him from the group yesterday. He was definitely one of the leaders of the gang. Michael could tell from the way he had behaved during the events yesterday. He hadn't done any of the dirty work of breaking into the bank, but had instead stayed with the driver at the car. He sat down across from him in the silver chair and smiled.  
"Hello Michael." He spoke quietly leaning towards him and putting a silver briefcase on the table. Michael had to stop himself from shivering. The man reminded him of a snake going for his prey and for the first time in a long time, Michael felt afraid. He heard the click as the briefcase opened. He couldn't see what was inside because it was facing away from him, but he knew it wasn't something good. The man pulled out a tan folder and placed it on the table in front of him. Inside the folder was dozens of files and pictures. The pictures were all pictures of him and his boyfriends, both in costume and out with the exception of Ryan.  
"Michael Vincent Jones." The man began to read, "Born July 24, 1987 in Woodbridge, New Jersey. Now living in Los Santos. Apart of the Fake Achievement Hunter Crew, odd name don't you think? Also apart of the Fake Achievement Hunter Crew: Geoff Lazer Ramsey, Jack Shannon Pattillo, Ray Narvaez Jr., Gavin David Free, The Mad Mercenary, and Jeremy Nicholas Dooley. You know there are rumors that you're all dating." He spoke with a smile that said he knew this rumor to be true.  
"Maybe, maybe not. Who I fuck in my free time is my business, isn't it?" He said with a shrug.  
The man laughed, "I guess it is." He then cleared his throat, "I think it's time to introduce who I am. I'm one of the leaders of The Collecters, you know the crew who ruined your heist and kidnapped you? Well we've decided to take you and your boyfriends down. And by take down I mean kill of course. We want Los Santos and you're in our way. It's just business, nothing personal."  
"Good luck, pal." Michael smirked, not breaking his cool outer demeanour, but inside he desperately wanted to punch the smug prick in his perfectly perfect face.  
He flipped through the file until he came to Gavin's page, suddenly the man's whole demeanor changed. "I'd also like to apologize," he said with a frown.  
"For what?" Michael asked, suddenly a sense of dread washed over him, just like the fear had.  
"Your friend," the man paused, "he, he didn't make it. Unfortunately he tried to make a run for it and we had to shoot him."  
Michael's heart dropped. No, it couldn't be true. His thoughts raced a mile a minute.  
The man folded his arms and leaned back. "I'll give it to him he was wily, pretty fast too, but my men were faster. They always are, you can't beat us you know. They shot him and he just crumpled to the ground. It was actually pretty pathetic, what a way to go right? He was really very close to! Almost made it! But of course he didn't, otherwise he wouldn't be a crumpled bleeding mess. Anyway, I'm sorry you have to find out like this, but I thought you might want to know. I know I would." Michael slumped in his chair and looked at the table. For a second he wanted to give up. He loved all of his boyfriends, but Gavin was special. Gavin was like his other half. Michael was angry and vulgar, Gavin was happy and loud. Michael wasn't afraid of killing people, Gavin bandaged stray cats and helped injured birds. Michael was street smart, Gavin was book smart. Sometimes Gavin was the only thing that kept him going and if he was gone... Michael couldn't even bring himself to think about it. His whole world crashed around him. Then he came to his senses. Gavin could be an idiot at times, crashing cars, asking ridiculous questions, saying things that didn't make sense, tripping over himself, getting in Ray's line of fire, but he wasn't that stupid. After Jack, he had been the first member of the Fake AH Crew. Geoff had taught him everything he knew, raised him to be as good as he was. People saw Gavin as the weakest link,but Gavin was strong and cunning when he needed to be, he had earned the nickname Golden Boy for a reason, and it wasn't just because he had a fondness for shiny objects either. He'd been kidnapped before, he would've known to stay put. He would've known that the others were coming for him and if he was here at all, he was alive and fighting. Michael glared up at the man, his fists clenched and his face hard. He had tried to use Gavin to make him give in, but all that he'd achieved was making him mad and the rage that was coursing through him renewed his energy. He was making it out of here for Gavin's sake.  
"Fuck off. You lying bastard!" He growled, spitting at the man.  
The glob of spit hit him in the neck and Michael grinned. The man looked slightly shocked before going back to his sickening grin and coolly wiped away the spit. "They told me you were a fighter, this will be so much fun." The man rubbed his hands together in what Michael assumed was excitement and Michael scowled, sadistic bastard. "Okay Mr. Jones, we're going to play a game I like to call the "Pain Station," he pulled a cigarette out of the briefcase and lit it, taking a deep breath and blowing the smoke in Michael's face. He clenched his fists, thinking of all the things he would do to him when he got out. "It works like this, I cause you pain," he spoke bringing the burning end of the cigarette down to Michael's bare forearm and pressing it down. Michael cried out in shock, causing a large grin to erupt on the man's face. "And then," he took the cigarette away leaving a bright pink circle on his pale skin, "I give you a chance to tell me what I want to know." Michael took a deep breath, he had been through a lot worse than a cigarette burn, he had been shot, stabbed, and beaten. He could make it through this.

"You may be thinking, "Cigarette burns, that's nothing" and you'd be right." The man said as if reading his mind. "I'm also not planning on burning you with cigarettes, that was just an example." He took a pair of pliers out of the brief case, placed the file back inside, and then shut it carefully. "This should be all I need and just so you know, this room is soundproof, so you can scream as loud as you want, it won't bother anyone else in the building." He leaned back in his chair. He grabbed Michaels hand. "I'm going to give you one last chance Mr. Jones. Tell me where the rest of you're crew is, or face the consequences."  
Michael just stared at him, stone faced.  
"Okay. Just don't say I didn't warn you." The man grabbed his hand tightly and with the pliers, gripped the finger nail of Michael's first finger and then began to pull.

Michael felt as if there had been a small explosion in his brain and clenching his jaw was all he could do to stop himself from crying out in pain.  
"You know when we find them, we're going to make sure to kill them slowly." He whispered as he continued to pull. "We'll go after little Jeremy first. They say he's so kind. We'll love making them all know they couldn't protect him." Michael felt an intense rage sweep through him as the man talked about Jeremy. No one got to threaten his crew and got to survive. As the fingernail came loose and slipped off of his finger, blood trickled down his hand and on to the table. He had tears in his eyes. "  
"Is there anything you would like to tell me now Mr. Jones? Because it only gets worse from here, how long can you make it." He chuckled, he fucking laughed.  
Michael flipped him off. "Go to hell."

"Oh, wrong choice." He said as he gripped Michael's hand again, he pinched the exposed skin where his fingernail had been with the pliers and pressed down. Michael screamed in pain, if he hadn't been in such intense pain, he might have complimented the man, he had truly worked torturing down to art form, Ryan would've been impressed with the man's technique. He would have to remember to tell him if he got back. "Then we'll go after Ray. We'll make sure to let them know it was you who got them ratted out. Because you were weak, you are weak Michael. You couldn't escape us, you couldn't save Gavin. What can you do? Because they aren't going to come save you Michael. You're a lost cause. They probably think you were killed in the explosion," The man released his grip on his tender flesh and leaned back.

"Are you ready to tell me now?" He yawned.  
Michael breathed heavily, he couldn't feel his finger at all, he could only feel the warm blood trickling down on to the steel table below. Ryan had taught him and the rest of the lads what to do when they were in situations like these, he had taught them a lot of things, but mostly he had told them to hold on because he would be destroying heaven and hell looking for them. He just had to hold out a little longer. They would come. But he was beginning to have doubts. The mans words were starting to get to him. He had gotten caught hadn't he and was he sure about Gavin? What if Gavin was dead? What if he was wrong? What if they couldn't find him? What if they thought he was dead. He hardened himself against the thoughts that were bombarding his head. No matter what he couldn't give in, he had to believe in his crew. 

"I admire your will power Mr. Jones. Let's see how long it can withstand." He grabbed Michael's other hand and with his pliers he grabbed the nail. "Then we'll go after Geoff, after all the lads are gone. Geoff didn't get caught did he? Of course we knew he was in the bank, we did our research on your past heists. We're very methodical and careful. Geoff's been kidnapped very few times. What do you think he's going to do when you tell him Gavin's dead and it's your fault?" He finished yanking out this nail and leaned close to Michael and whispered. "Are you ready to tell me now?" At this point tears were streaming down his cheeks and mixing with the growing amount of blood on the table. He was breathing heavily, his mind was swimming with thoughts of his crew and pain. If Gavin was dead it was his fault wasn't it? Gavin didn't go out into the field very often and when he did whoever was with him was put in charge of making sure he made it out alive.Geoff would hate him. The crew would hate him. They would leave him. But he couldn't just turn them in, even if they hated him. They had taken him off the streets when he had nowhere to go, they had loved him.  
"No. I have nothing to say to you." He spoke softly.

"Okay Mr. Jones." The man went back to his other hand and gripped his middle finger nail between his pliers and began to speak again. "Next we'll go after Jack, after losing Geoff he won't even really fight back will he?"  
Michael felt sick to his stomach. He couldn't breathe. The man pulled loose the nail and moved to the other hand and began to pull. Michael realised he never asked him if he was going to give in. He felt upset by that. Had he been planning on giving them in? He wasn't sure, he just wanted the pain to stop.

"And then all we have left is the Mercenary. He'd who'd been alone for so long before he met your team. Took him such a long time to trust you all, Took so long to help him love you all. What do you think it'll be like for him to lose everyone? He'll be all alone again. The only survivor before we kill him. Then all we have left is you. The coward, the pathetic weakling." He leaned in towards Michael, their faces were inches apart. "You want to give them in, don't you?" He sneered, his breath smelled of strong coffee and his eyes were the colour of a choppy ocean. "How disgusting." The man leaned back in his chair again.

By this point Michael could feel himself breaking. He had felt a lot of pain in his life, and this was honestly the worst pain he had ever felt. He felt physical pain from his throbbing bloody mess of fingers, but he felt like like his head and heart were being beaten to a pulp by every word the man said. He was almost ready to give in, to make the pain stop, to let the man know what he wanted to know, but then he thought about his boyfriends, the hugs Jack gave which made him feel like nothing could hurt him and how he was always there to put a bandage on a scraped knee or bullet wound, the way Ray laughed at his own jokes and cuddled up with Michael when they played Xbox together, the strange bird noises that Gavin made and the way his smile could light up a whole room, the immense warmth Ryan hid behind his cold mask and the way he stumbled over his words, the way Jeremy would do any dare or challenge and how such a big heart was inside such a small man, and how Geoff's kisses always smelled faintly of whiskey and how he would do anything if it meant protecting them. He couldn't turn them in, he felt anger and an intense amount of guilt and shame at for even thinking about it. He clenched his fists, which caused him an intense amount of pain, but he didn't care. His anger was back. His anger had always been his greatest weapon and he wasn't going to let it die out again. They would come. They always did, he just had to hold on.

"Mr. Jones, I'll ask you once again. Where. Are. They." The man sounded angry and tired, good he was wearing him down.  
"No. I'm never going to fucking tell you. Not in a million years. No matter how many nails you pull, no matter how many times you shoot me, no matter how many times you punch me!" He yelled.  
The man sighed. "I really didn't want to have to do this Michael." He said standing up and walking over to the side of Michael's chair. "But you've forced my hand. Tell me where your boyfriend's are or I'm afraid things might get messy."  
Michael just glared at him, breathing heavily. Suddenly the man grabbed his cheeks and squeezed. It was at that moment that Michael realised what was happening. He was going to try to pull out his teeth. Michael was shocked. There was no fucking way he was going to let him get those pliers into his mouth. He clenched his jaw and began to thrash violently.  
"Keep still!" The man hissed as he slammed his head into the back of the chair. Everything went fuzzy for a minute and the man was able to open his mouth. He stuck his hand in Michael's mouth, big mistake. Michael bit down as hard as he could. The man yelled out in anger and punched Michael in the jaw forcing him to release the man's hand. Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"House keeping" a fake feminine voice said from behind the door and Michael's heart leapt in his chest.  
"What the fuck?" The man asked, standing up and turning towards the door.  
The door flew open falling off its hinges and onto the floor. Ray, Jeremy, and Gavin burst into the room. Ray's holding his pink rocket launcher, Jeremy's holding a pistol, and Gavin's holding what appeared to be a 3 foot lead pipe.  
"We're here bitches!" Gavin yelled with a smile. Michael broke out in a huge grin that hurt his bruising jaw. Their timing had been perfect, as if on cue and he had never been more happy to see anyone in his life.

Jeremy aimed his gun at the man's head, but the he was fast, he grabbed the briefcase on the table and lunged towards Jeremy. Jeremy let off a shot that hit the ceiling and before anyone could even move he had wrenched the gun away from Jeremy. He had the arm with the briefcase wrapped around Jeremy's neck and the gun pointed at his temple.  
"Let him go!" Michael yelled, yanking at his bonds. Ray had his rocket launcher at the ready and Gavin held his pipe like a bat, but he knew both of them couldn't do anything. They couldn't risk hurting Jeremy. Jeremy's eyes were wide with fear as he yanked at the arm around his neck, but the man was much stronger than he looked. Michael knew that first hand.  
"Now, I'm not going to hurt him. I just need to use him to get out of here alive. I have meetings to attend and plans to execute. I hope you can understand." He dragged the thrashing Jeremy backwards out into the hallway. Gavin and Ray sprinted after him. He couldn't see what was going on outside the room and not being able to help save Jeremy was killing him. He heard a shot and then some glass breaking and Michael's heart stopped. The thought of one of them lying dead in the hallway hurt him more than any of the torture he had experienced because if one of them was dead it was his fault. He was the one that got captured, he was the one who needed rescuing. The feeling of being weak and useless was tearing him up inside. He hated it. He loathed it. He couldn't stand it. He leaned back in the chair, feeling tired and defeated. Gavin ran into the room first, followed soon after by Ray who had an arm wrapped around Jeremy's torso and was leading him inside.  
"Michael!" Gavin yelled as he looked at the pool of blood around Michael's arms. He dropped the pipe on the floor with a clang and ran over. He quickly unfastened Michael's from the table.  
"What the fuck happened out there?" Michael asked, rubbing his wrists gently and carefully with his tender fingers.  
"He shot the sprinklers and stole the gun," Jeremy said his hair and shirt wet. He pulled away from Ray to pick up Gavin's pipe.  
"Then he jumped out the window like a bloody maniac Michael!" Gavin yelled squeakily as he finished untying the notes on the ropes, freeing him. He braced himself against the bloody table and stood up slowly.  
"I couldn't find where he went." Ray sighed.  
"Are you okay lil' J?" Michael asked between clenched teeth, his leg hurt a lot more than he thought it would.  
"I'll be fine, he didn't hurt me. I'm more worried about you. What happened to you Michael?" Jeremy asked, looking like someone had kicked his puppy.  
"Yea, what did they do to you boi?" Gavin asked, Michael showed him his fingers as he leaned against the table, his hands shaking badly. Gavin let out the most awful retch Michael had ever heard and moved towards the door, gagging. Ray looked shocked and confused, Jeremy came over from where he was guarding the door and looked like he was going to cry.  
"How did you find me?"  
"Gavin looked into some recent heists, asked around, hacked into some main frames. Ray said brushing some rubble off of his rocket launcher  
"Then we wrecked shop, going up floor by floor till we found you!" Jeremy smiling and rubbing his neck.  
"We did it for you Michael." Gavin said coming back into the room. Michael's felt a sense of guilt thinking about the injuries they could have obtained while trying to find him, he had almost turned giving them away. He tried to put weight on his leg, but an intense pain radiated from the bullet wound he obtained. He had to ask for help. He hated asking for help. He was awful at it.  
"Um I'm going to need some, um, I can't- they shot my leg yesterday and-" Gavin seemed to understand what he was saying and wrapped an arm around Michael's waist. He pressed a kiss gently on his bleeding lips, then he helped him out the door.  
"Where are the gents?" He asked, leaning into Gavin's bony frame as they walked.  
"They're fucking up one of their other warehouses." Ray said as he lead the group through the rubble and bodies towards a flight of stairs. "It was between two of their warehouses and they went to the other one."  
"Geoff and Ryan are going to be disappointed they didn't get to beat up that guy. You should've seen Geoff when he found out they had taken you!" Gavin said as he helped Michael slowly down the stairs.  
"Yea. He lost it." Jeremy said as he slammed the pipe into a man running towards them, he crumpled to the floor. "Jack had to stop him from drinking through the whole liquor cupboard. He sent out the whole cavalry trying to find you."  
"Rye was pretty mad too." Gavin said, "he went full Mad Merc, face paint, mask and everything. They were both really worried about this mission."  
Michael smiled slightly, his head still filled with guilt. He had almost gotten them all killed. He was weak.  
"We were going to find you no matter what. We're Team Nice Dynamite!" Gavin grinned at him and Ray groaned.  
"And don't worry about your hand or leg Michael, Jack will fix them up when we get back to the house." Jeremy said as he opened the thick iron door to the entrance of the warehouse. Michael could hear police sirens in the distance as they helped him into the car, careful not to jostle his leg or hands too much. They put him in the middle snuggled between both of them. Ray kissed his cheek, wrapping his arms around him and Gavin ran his hands through his curly red hair. Jeremy placed the key in the ignition and the car roared to life. Michael felt a large sense of relief as they drove away, but he still felt that pang of guilt, like he didn't deserve the kindness they were giving him. He was so exhausted that he couldn't help closing his eyes, although somewhere deep inside, he had a feeling he hadn't seen the last of that man or The Collecters, but he was back with the crew, he was safe and for now, that's all that mattered.


	2. Impact

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who read my last chapter. This chapters a little longer. I hope you all like it.

Things had been off with Michael since they had rescued him five days ago. Whenever anyone would try to talk to him or go near him, he would retreat to his room. Soon he never came out at all. Everyone told Gavin that it was normal. That he just needed to give him some time to recover, that it was a traumatic experience, but he knew his boi. Something was definitely wrong, more than just the torture. He wanted to help desperately, but he didn't know what to do. Gavin sat down on the couch squeezing himself in between Jeremy and Ray, who were playing on the Xbox. He looked back at the closed door of the room Michael had shut himself in and sighed. Jeremy put down his controller and looked over at him.  
"What's up Gav?" He asked as Ray shot his player in the head before reluctantly putting his controller down as well.  
"It's Michael. I'm just-"  
"Worried about him, I get it." Jeremy interrupted, "I am too." He wrapped his arm around him and rubbed his upper arm.  
"I think maybe this is just something he has to do by himself." Ray said fidgeting with his hands, "I mean I don't know, but I think I would need to deal with it alone."  
"But he's been shut up in that room forever." Gavin said softly.  
"If you're really worried about him, you could go talk to him." Jeremy suggested, looking back at the door behind them.  
Honestly, the thought hadn't occurred to Gavin, everyone had been telling him that Michael needed time and space, so going into his room wasn't something he had even tried. He stood up quickly, "Your right! Thank you Jeremy you're a smart one."  
Jeremy laughed and stood up to kiss Gavin's cheek. "You're welcome, anything I can do to help."  
Ray looked at them, worriedly. "I don't know about this."  
"Don't worry Ray, it'll be great." Gavin said as he walked towards Michael's door cautiously. Ray and Jeremy watched in anticipation. Gavin knocked on the door softly, no one answered. Gavin opened the door carefully. Inside Michael was standing by the dresser mirror, looking at his reflection, he didn't look great, his skin was pale, or paler than it usually was, and he looked like he was going to vom. The rest of the room was a mess as well. The lights were turned down low, the covers to the bed were crumpled into a ball on the floor, plates of food that Geoff had brought him were stacked up on the bedside table, barely touched, and clothes were strewn across the floor.  
"Michael?" Gavin said quietly as he entered the room. Michael turned to him and he looked frightened. Then it turned to happiness and surprise and then to sadness and finally to rage all in the course of a few seconds. "Are you okay, you don't look too good." He said hesitantly.  
"Thanks Gavin." Michael said, sarcastically. "You want something, or are you just gonna stand there looking like an idiot?"  
Gavin felt hurt and confused. Why was Michael being so awful to him? What was wrong? Had he done something. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay Michael." He said walking towards him, he just wanted to hug him and hold him. He wanted him to be okay. He wanted him to be himself again.  
"I'm fine. You wanna get the hell out of my room?" He asked, his fists clenching.  
"No I want to help Michael. I want to know what's wrong." He reached for Michael's arm, trying to give him some form of affection. Then Michael shoved him. Gavin stumbled back in surprise. In all the times they had been friends and boyfriends, Michael had never actually hurt him. Sure he got mad when they were playing video games and he messed up and got them both killed, sometimes he tackled him, sometimes he yelled at him for saying something dumb, but during those times he always had this little fond smile on his face. Michael's face had no smile on it now, only a grimace of anger.  
"Get away from me Gavin. I don't want you."  
Gavin's fist clenched as he felt tears fill his eyes. He took a step forward. "Why are you saying these things? You're being a right prick!"  
"Are you gonna cry about it?" Michael sneered, getting in Gavin's face. Gavin shoved him away. Normally he wanted Michael as close to him as possible, but not like this.  
"Stop it Michael!" He yelled.  
That was when Michael punched him, it wasn't as hard as he could, but it was hard enough to send him stumbling out the door, mostly in shock. He caught himself on the doorframe, glancing back at the couch. He tasted blood in his mouth. Ray and Jeremy looked at him, mouths gaping. Gavin's sadness was washed away by a white hot fury as Michael walked towards him. He backed out into the more open area behind the couch punched Michael square in the face. Michael glared, his face bleeding from where Gavin's gold ring had hit his cheek. He went to hit Gavin again, but Gavin dodged, though it threw him off balance. As he stumbled, he grabbed on to Michael's shirt bringing him down to the ground with him. Michael tried to pin him down, but Gavin was slippery and easily squirmed out of his grasp. He flipped Michael over, but Michael was heavier and stronger than he was and easily flipped him over again. He let loose a flurry of blows landing all over Gavin's chest and face, he put up his arms to protect himself. At some point Ray or Jeremy must have gone to get Geoff because Ryan was pulling Michael off of him and Jack was helping him to his feet. Gavin buried his face into Jack's chest, blood dripping from his nose on to his shirt. Jack pet his head softly, wrapping an arm around him.  
"What the hell just happened?!" Geoff asked, looking worried and surprised.  
"Gavin went into Michael's room." Ray said, standing awkwardly behind Geoff. He made them sound like they were children and Geoff must have thought so too.  
"Did he steal your fucking toy? Do I need to take away your Xbox privileges?" Geoff looked at Michael and Gavin. Gavin didn't even look up to meet his gaze.  
"He wouldn't leave me alone." Michael shrugged and moved away from Ryan's grasp on him. At this Gavin turned to look at him, the hurt in his face must have been clear because Michael turned away heading out to the balcony. The intense anger that he had felt faded away leaving only exhaustion and hurt. He felt himself starting to cry, he didn't want anyone to see the tears that were rolling down his cheeks. He pried himself free of Jack and ran off towards the master bedroom they all shared. The rest of them stood in silence. Ray and Jeremy shared awkward glances.  
Geoff sighed. "I'll go talk to Michael."  
Ryan nodded. "I'll take Gavin." 

Michael hadn't wanted things to turn out like that. Nothing was helped by the fact that he hadn't slept more than two hours consecutively since he had gotten back. He kept having nightmares which wasn't a huge surprise. He just couldn't stand the pain and guilt he felt when he looked at any of his boyfriends, but especially Gavin, He needed him to stay away, he couldn't risk him getting hurt and if he was with him he could die. It was when Gavin reached for him that he really freaked out. In that moment he would've done anything to get Gavin away, and he had. He had hurt Gavin, but better Gavin be hurt and hating him. Then loving him and dead. He heard the balcony door open and Geoff came up beside him.  
They stood there for a few minutes just looking at the streets of Los Santos before Geoff broke the silence "You punched Gavin," he said looking at him with a mixture of concern and confusion.  
"He just kept bothering me and I-"  
"Cut the shit Michael, tell me what's up."  
"Geoff," he sighed, running a hand through his tangled hair. "It's nothing."  
"No. Don't give me that. You haven't come out of your room in three days,you won't even look at us and you just beat up Gavin for caring about you. We need to talk."  
Michael sighed, he knew Geoff wasn't going to give up until he talked. He hadn't really told anyone what had happened in that room. He had showed them his injuries so that he could get them taken care of, but that was it. So he took a deep breath and began to talk. It was like opening a dam, once he opened it he found it hard to stop. Everything just came out at once. He told them about the things the man had said to him, about The Collectors, about the threats that the man he had made to the crew, about Gavin, about the pain, about almost getting his teeth pulled out, about almost turning them in, about the guilt, about everything. When he was done Geoff had a mixture of shock and sadness on his face. He grabbed Michael and pulled him into a hug.  
"Michael you did nothing wrong," he whispered into his hair. Hearing Geoff say that broke something in Michael and he began to cry, pressing his face into Geoff's chest.  
"You were incredibly brave and we all love you. We won't let them hurt Gavin, or anyone in this house. It's not just your job to protect us." He rubbed Michael's back and kissed the top of his head before holding him out at arms length. Michael looked at Geoff who had a fire in his eyes. "When we find the bastard, which we will don't doubt that, I'm going to gut him slowly." Michael wiped away his tears with the palms of his hands and nodded.  
"So you don't hate me?" He finally asked.  
Geoff looked at him with a look of empathy and sadness. "Michael I could never ever hate you. I love you to pieces. I don't even think Gavin could hate you and you beat the absolute shit out of him."  
He sighed, "What do I do about Gavin?" Michael asked, rubbing the spot on his cheek where Gavin's ring had gotten him. He had forgotten about the fight he had with Gavin and now he felt awful.  
"Just leave him be for a while. Ryan's talking to him. I'm sure he'll come around. He loves you Michael. He'll talk to you when he's ready."  
Michael smiled for the first time since they had gone on that heist.  
Geoff pressed one last kiss to his forehead.  
"Now, go grab the dishes from your room before they start to mold."

Gavin pressed himself into the softness of the large California King bed. He curled himself into a ball and cried. He hated crying. He hated the blood on his face. He hated Michael. He heard the door open and felt the weight of someone sitting on the bed. He looked up and saw Ryan, who looked back at him. "Hey Rye bread," Gavin said softly.  
Ryan dragged him onto his lap. "Hey Gavin," he said playing with his hair. Gavin snuggled into Ryan's warmth, tears still occasionally running down his cheeks. They stayed like that for a while, neither saying anything. For someone who was wanted by the LSPD for murdering some say hundreds of people, Ryan was very good at comforting people. Eventually Ryan broke the silence. "He didn't mean it you know."  
"You don't know that Ryan." He said looking up at him.  
"I do. I know all about pushing people away." He said looking back at him, looking slightly sad. "He's scared Gavin that's all. Whatever happened to him made him afraid to stay close to us."  
Gavin sighed, he knew Ryan was right, but he didn't want to admit it. Michael had hurt him, his heart and his pride. He still wanted to be mad. "Well he didn't have to beat me up."  
"He's Michael. What did you expect? He wasn't going to ask you for a hug." Ryan smiled.  
"No, but I bloody didn't expect him to go right off and punch me either!"  
"Yea, he was really kicking your ass." Ryan chucked.  
Gavin smiled, "Did he mess up my face too badly Ryan?" He whined. "Am I still beautiful?"  
Ryan laughed and kissed Gavin's lips. "You'll always be beautiful."  
Gavin blushed. "Aww thanks Ry." He cleared his throat, "I lo-"  
The door opened and Jeremy poked his head in. "Oh hey, Geoff's looking for you Ryan." Ryan nodded to Jeremy and moved Gavin off of him gently, leaving the room. "Hey Gavin, do you wanna come play Xbox with Ray, Michael and I?"  
Gavin frowned, "Are you sure Michael-"  
"He told me to come ask you." Jeremy smiled. "So are you coming?"  
"Of course." Gavin said getting off the bed, grabbing Jeremy's hand and walking out into the main room.  
The main room was a mess of cords and game cases strewn across the floor and couch. Michael sat lounging on the couch, looking at his phone and Ray was rummaging through a bin that they kept controllers in.  
"So we have a problem." Ray said, pushing up his glasses which were slowly slipping down his face.  
"What is it X-Ray?" Gavin asked peering down into the bin.  
"We only have three controllers." He sighed.  
"What happened to the last one?" Jeremy cried.  
"I smashed it playing Trials last weekend." Michael said quietly.  
"Michael stop." Jeremy said with a smile. "This is the third one."  
"It's not even that hard." Ray said, pulling out some more game discs.  
"Shut the fuck up Ray." Michael glared.  
"I mean we can just go buy one." Gavin suggested, looking nervously at Michael.  
"Yea it'd be a good idea and we can even get you some sunlight, Michael." Ray smiled as he grabbed the keys to the SUV.  
"I'm leaving a note for the gents." Jeremy said as he finished jotting something down.  
"Fine," Michael said a small grin coming to his face. "Let's go."  
"Woo!" Gavin exclaimed as they headed out the door.  
"Lads fuck fest!" Ray yelled.  
"Oh my God Ray." Jeremy laughed as closing the door behind them.

Geoff was standing in the meeting room, drinking and trying to not lose his cool when Jack walked in.  
"Woah, Geoff what's up?" He asked, sitting down next to him. He placed a hand on his back and leaned in close to him.  
"Let's wait for Ryan, then I'll explain." He said, leaning into Jack's comforting form.  
"Okay. Your message sounded really urgent. I'm just worried." Jack hugged Geoff close to him.  
The door opened and Ryan came in. "What's up?" He asked, shutting the door behind him. "Gavin and Michael are okay again. I think."  
Geoff nodded, taking a drink and went right into what he was going to say without taking a breath. "Do you remember that mission we went on a couple of months back? Just you and me? The one down south with Fakehaus and the scooters?"  
Ryan paused for a moment, and then nodded grimly. "It's not them is it?"  
Geoff nodded slowly.  
"Okay pause, what are you guys talking about?" Jack asked, looking at the both of them.  
"You remember a couple of months ago when Ryan and I headed down south for a mission?" Geoff said.  
Jack nodded.  
"Do you remember when I said Ryan and I were helping Fakehaus out with a small problem?"  
Jack nodded again.  
"Well I lied."  
Jack frowned and looked at them both angrily.  
"Well not about everything," Ryan spoke up. "We really were going to help Fakehaus."  
"But it was a big problem not a small one." Geoff took another swig out of his glass.  
"Why? Why did you lie?" Jack asked, glaring.  
"We didn't want you to worry." Ryan said sheepishly.  
"Well I'm even more worried now." Jack said rubbing the side of his face, "What does this mission have to do anything?"  
"See the mission was," Geoff paused, "we take down the leader of a gang that was trying to take over Fakehaus territory." Geoff took another drink, nervously.  
"Now this wasn't just any gang, it happened to be the largest gang down south. They go by the name The Collectors." Ryan stood up and pointed to a map on the wall. "They rule about," Ryan circled most of Southern California and some of Mexico. "All of that. The problem was that they continued to move northward which was getting into Fakehaus territory."  
"So we got together with them and we killed their leader. The only problem was," Geoff paused to take a long drink. "I got captured, by this guy who goes by The Extractor." Geoff opened his mouth and Jack saw that he was missing two of his teeth in the back of his mouth. Jack could see Ryan getting angry just hearing about it and he was pretty upset himself, but he couldn't even have imagined how painful it was for Geoff.  
"Ryan found me soon after he had taken out the leader, tied up in a room, completely unconscious." He looked down at his almost empty glass. "I don't remember very much of anything that happened before and during my capture. I just remember the guys name."  
"Is this guy is the same guy that took Michael?" Jack asked.  
Geoff nodded, "And from what Michael told me he's got the gang back together and they're out for our blood."  
"We've dealt with gangs like this before, what makes this one different?" Jack asked.  
"You don't get a territory that big easily, these guys are some of the most ruthless criminals I've ever met and that's coming from me." Ryan said. "They kill women and children without care, they torture dogs, and blow up buildings full of innocent people. Most of them are sadists just like The Extractor, they revel in causing pain. People who know them fear them and will do what they ask." Ryan stood up and slammed his fists on the table. "If they're here then we can't leave the house. We'll have to go into hiding. They'll be watching our every move. We got lucky being able to destroy their two warehouses, but now they're even angrier than before and they've already tasted blood."  
Geoff sighed and finished his drink. "I've already got Fakehaus and our B team on the look out. They'll be picking off their crew members slowly, but until I can get some more info behind this crew we have to lay low, really low."  
"So are we telling the lads?" Jack asked.  
"We kind of have to don't we?" Geoff sighed, rubbing his temples.  
Jack stood up. "I'll go get them." He opened the door to the main room and found it empty. "Geoff." He said, momentarily frozen in panic. "Geoff they're gone."  
"What?!" Geoff yelled, shooting to his feet.  
Ryan ran out into the room. "The keys are gone, they took the car out."  
"I'm calling them." Geoff said, his phone up to his ear.  
"Here's a note." Jack said trying to read Jeremy's messy hand writing. "They went out to buy a new Xbox controller. The nearest game store is in Los Santos, depending on when they left, they could be there by now."  
"They aren't picking up!" Geoff said, putting another number into his phone.  
"I'm going." Ryan said, grabbing his mask and the keys to his bike. He headed out the door before anyone could say anything.  
Geoff grabbed the keys to the adder and reached for the door knob. Jack grabbed his shoulder.  
"You know that we're only putting ourselves in danger by going and this is what they want, right?"  
"I know. But what are we supposed to do?They're in danger and we can't just sit by and watch!" He said, visibly shaking.  
"Geoff, I love them just as much as you do. I just want to make sure your aware of what we're getting ourselves into."  
"I am and I don't care." Geoff opened the door and walked out of the house, Jack followed closely behind.

They had been on the road for a little while. Their main house was a little ways outside of the city so getting into Los Santos took a little while, but that's what made the main house a safe one. They had cranked up the music so loud that you could feel the bass through the seats and Michael was currently having a great time. He and Gavin had made up and he was currently covering him in kisses when Jeremy shouted at him from the drivers seat.  
"What?" Michael yelled back, he was sitting in the second row and could barely hear him.  
"How close are we?" He turned down the music a little so he could hear.  
"Ray's up front, why aren't you asking him?"  
"I don't fucking know where we are, I don't drive around Los Santos. I barely even go outside." Ray shrugged.  
Michael sighed. "Why do we let you ever sit up front?"  
"Because you wanted to give Gavin a sweet blow job." Ray said miming the action.  
Gavin squealed and Michael started laughing.  
"First off that's not what I said, and second of all-" but Michael was interrupted by a car smashing into the side of theirs at full force. The windows exploded on impact and glass flew at them like small daggers. He grabbed on to Gavin tightly and held him close as their car flipped over and flew off the road. They hit the ground with a thud, jostling him to what felt like his bones as the car landed with its wheels on the dusty earth. The music had at some point during the crash cut out and now they were all sitting in a stunned silence. He slowly and shakily let go of Gavin. He and Gavin had been lucky, they had one seat between where they were sitting and where they had been hit. But what about Jeremy and Ray, his heart was beating rapidly as he unbuckled his seat belt.  
"Is everyone okay?" He asked his voice wavering.  
"I'm fine Michael." Gavin said, following Michael's lead and unbuckling his seat belt as well. He scooted closer to Michael and away from the sharp, crumpled metal that had engulfed the seat next to him.  
"I'm covered in glass, but I'm okay." Jeremy looked back at them, glass tinkling to the floor as he did. Jeremy then turned to Ray and inhaled sharply. "Michael, Ray, he's, he doesn't look so great." Jeremy looked back at Michael with frightened eyes.  
"Can you pull him out? We can get a better look at what happened to him outside." Michael said calmly, but on the inside he was panicking too. Jeremy nodded and began to grab Ray gently. Michael yanked on the door on his side of the car and managed to get it open with not too much effort. He carefully got out of the car and looked back at Gavin.  
"Gavin your arms bleeding!" He cried out. His arm had a large cut near the shoulder, which was bleeding quite a bit.  
Gavin looked at him fiercely. "It's not that deep Michael, I'll be alright. Don't worry about me."  
Michael smiled slightly and nodded. He often forgot how tough Gavin could be when he needed to be.  
Michael looked over and saw Jeremy carrying Ray bridal style out of the car. He placed him gently on the ground and knelt on the ground next to him. Michael looked at Ray and he felt like all the air had been knocked out of his chest. Ray had a large cut from the bottom to the top of his cheek, he had large gashes on his right arm and leg and his shoulder was probably dislocated. Jeremy was gently probing Ray's shoulder. Most people wouldn't know I, but Jeremy had quite a bit of medical knowledge. He had told him he had been trying to become a paramedic before he joined the crew.  
"Michael, I'm going to pop his shoulder back in, try to keep him steady."  
Michael knelt down on the other side of Jeremy and grabbed Ray's opposite shoulder. Jeremy lifted Ray's arm to a ninety degree angle and pulled slowly, relocating it. Michael grimaced as he watched, he was glad Ray was unconscious. Jeremy stayed kneeled next to Ray and grabbed his hand.  
"I'm going to call Geoff." Gavin said as he pulled out his golden cased phone.  
"Okay Gav, Jeremy you stay with Ray, I'm going to go see if whoever hit us bothered to stick around." Michael stood up and made to go around the back of the van.  
"There's no need. Believe me we wouldn't leave for the world."  
Michael looked up and saw the man coming into view from behind the car. Michael was immediately both furious and terrified.  
"I'd put that phone down Gavin. Wouldn't want to blow off that pretty little head."  
Michael looked back at Gavin and saw a man with an assault rifle aimed at Gavin's head. He dropped the phone on the ground and the screen shattered. "I would suggest all of you do the same, including that bloody mess on the ground," He spoke gesturing to Ray, Jeremy stood up, glowering. He pulled out a gun from his waist band and pointed it at the man. The man turned to look at him "Oh hello Jeremy, how's your neck?" He sighed, "I suggest you put that down or bad things will happen to Gavin. I don't need all of you, but it makes it more fun if I have all of you." Michael heard the man behind him take the safety off his gun, he knew Jeremy was just trying to gain some kind of control in this desperate situation, that he was scared and new, but Michael knew that this wasn't a situation that they could shoot there way out of. He knew Jeremy knew that too. Jeremy dropped the gun on the ground. "The rest of you should do the same." They each placed their phone and hidden weapons on the ground. Jeremy knelt down and did the same for Ray.  
"Good job. You've done well."  
"What do you want?" Gavin glared.  
"Oh Gavin, don't make such an ugly face, it doesn't suit you." The man said walking towards him. He stopped in front of him and placed a hand on his chest. Michael bristled and Jeremy clenched his fists. Gavin tried to move away, but the man with the gun jabbed him painfully in the back. "I just want to have a little fun Gavin, but remember" He leaned in close and Gavin shivered. "I don't play nice." He whispered and then moved away, grinning. "Alright everyone field trip! Get into the van! And don't forget your mutilated friend either!" The man yelled as he walked around the back of the van. Two men came out from around the car with assault rifles and Michael wondered what was happening behind the crushed SUV. How many men had he brought? Michael weighed his options. He could try and run, but he and his boyfriends would probably get shot, plus he had Ray to think about. He could try attacking, but there were three of them and none of them had their weapons. His safest option would be to go with them and hopefully the gents would find them quickly. The man behind Gavin was shoving him forward and the other two had their sights aimed at Jeremy and him. Michael looked around at the sorry state they were in. Jeremy had small cuts all over his cheeks and arms. He was also carrying Ray who was bleeding less significantly than when they had pulled him out of the car, but was still unconscious. He looked back at Gavin who was looking at the ground and grabbing his injured arm. They made their way around the van to the street. Sitting in the road were three cars: one van and two pickup trucks. One man was holding open the van door for them. Michael carefully climbed inside, followed by the man who was targeting him. Then came Gavin and finally Jeremy. The man slammed the door to his freedom shut. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his racing heart. He had to be brave, if not for himself, then for those he loved. He opened his eyes as the car rumbled to live. The man looked back at them from the front seat and smiled, "Welcome to hell my little boys." He cackled and drove off, leaving most of Michael's hope behind in the dust of the Californian desert.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. This might end up being more than a three part series depending on how I'm feeling. Thanks to everyone who left kudos, commented or bookmarked this, you have no idea what it does for my self esteem haha. Tune in for the next chapter.


	3. Hard Hits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to split this chapter in to two parts because it would've been too long. We're coming to the end here guys and I'm excited to finish it. Thanks again for reading!

Ryan arrived ten minutes too late. He pulled up to the broken van. He had seen it in the distance, but he was foolishly hoping it hadn't been theirs. This was their car. His breath caught in his chest as he saw how damaged it was. He gently touched the crumpled dark blue exterior as he made his way around to the other side. He saw that the door was open and looked inside. He wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or upset that they weren't inside. At least they aren't dead, he told his racing heart, you can find them and save them. He peered into the front window and noticed the blood in the passenger side. He felt an intense fear, that quickly turned into a furious rage. One of them was hurt and bleeding and someone was going to pay. They were all going to pay and he would make sure that they felt pain. He let out a growl that would have frightened wolves. He hadn't felt this amount of anger since he had found Geoff, blood streaming out of his mouth, speaking incoherently, barely conscious with The Extractor's name carved into the table with a little heart. He knew Geoff didn't remember any of it because of how many drugs The Extractor had pumped into his system, but he felt guilty, it was his fault. He hadn't been there when Geoff had needed him, he hadn't been able to find The Extractor, he hadn't been able to kill him and now he had the lads. The lads were probably even being tortured right now. He punched the side of the van, ignoring the pain it caused him. How was he going to find them? He turned and leaned against the van, trying calm himself enough that he didn't make this whole situation worse for his boyfriends who were on their way. He saw something sparkling in the sand and moved closer. It was Gavin's shiny golden phone. The screen was shattered, but when he pressed the power button it turned on. He quickly put in Gavin's password, which was the year he met Geoff, Gavin had told him once when he was drunk. He saw that Geoff's number was pulled up on the phone. He looked around again and saw that all of their phones and weapons were there, lying on the ground. He put Gavin's golden phone in his pocket, it somehow gave him a feeling of hope. It was then that he heard Geoff and Jack's car pull up. Ryan moved around the van to meet them.   
Jack rushed out of the van. He looked at him with fear in his eyes, "Are they-"  
He shook his head, "No, they aren't here. They were taken and one of them is badly injured."  
Jack looked relieved and leaned back on to the adder. Geoff, on the other hand, looked like he had aged twenty years, he looked weary and hopeless. He gazed at Ryan with red rimmed eyes. It hurt him to see Geoff looking so defeated. Geoff, who always bounced back harder and stronger with fire in his eyes, now looked weak and lifeless. It just showed how much he cared. He moved towards him and grabbed his shoulders.  
"Geoff, we will find them." He said with conviction. It took Geoff a moment but he slowly nodded. Ryan felt a pang in his heart and he wrapped his arms around him and held him close. "Everyone will be fine." He was trying to reassure himself as much as the others. He let go of Geoff and led him gently towards Jack.  
Jack grabbed onto the broken man and began rubbing his back, "Let's just get back to the house, we can figure out a plan from there. Nothing will get done by looking longingly at this van."   
Ryan smiled at Jack, he loved when the man took charge. Normally it was Geoff who took control, so Jack sat back and let him. But when necessary, Jack could be one of the most efficient leaders Ryan had ever seen. Sleeping with Geoff hadn't been the only thing that had gotten him to the top. Ryan got up on his bike, adjusted his mask, and rode off down the road. 

Ryan normally loved riding alone. It was a time he could think about things like Gavin's asinine   
hypothetical questions, books he had read, or whether or not he should find a new mask, but right now he hated it. All he could think about was his young boyfriends scared and alone and injured somewhere in Los Santos and suddenly his mask felt suffocating. He wanted to take it off and just feel the wind in his face and hair. It was a strange feeling, wanting to take off his mask, before he had met them, he'd always wanted to hide, but now he felt a sense of freedom that was more exhilarating than any kill he had ever performed. As he got closer to the house he saw smoke in the distance. That wasn't a good sign. He accelerated forward, speeding down the empty dirt road. He turned down their street and felt the heat before he saw it. A sense of horror enveloped him as he saw their house engulfed in flames.   
He wasn't sure what he had expected when he saw the smoke, but it wasn't this, certainly not this. He wondered how long The Collectors had known where they lived and whether or not they knew they weren't inside, or if they even cared. He slowly got off his bike and watched it burn. There was nothing anyone could do, the house was too far gone and by the time the fire fighters got this far outside of Los Santos the house would be a smoking pile of rubble. He sank to the ground and hugged his knees to his chest. The house had a lot of memories, it was the house he began to trust the crew in. It was the house where they had all decided to become more than just a crew. He remembered all the sleepless nights with Gavin, all the shooting practice on the roof with Ray, all the cooking he did with Geoff, watching Jeremy test drive the cars out back, playing Trials and Rocket League with Jack, and trying new weapons with Michael. These memories were things that wouldn't be consumed by the fire. He was glad that he had another house hidden away in Los Santos, he knew that Michael and Ray did too. Geoff had multiple houses as did Jack, but he was pretty sure all of Jeremy and Gavin's belongings were in that house. Geoff had picked them both off the street as small time criminals that he saw potential in. Gavin moved all of his things in that house when it had just been him Jack and Geoff. Gavin might have things in England at the house he and Dan shared, but Jeremy hadn't owned much to begin with and all of his things had gone into the house when he joined the crew. He hadn't even realised that Jack and Geoff had arrived until Geoff came and sat next to him. Geoff rested his head in the crook of his neck, and sighed.   
"I'm sorry Geoff," he said quietly.  
"It's okay, we're all alive. We have more important things to think about." He kissed Ryan's neck gently.   
"But I can't help but feel like this is my fault."  
Geoff laughed, "You and Michael both seem to think that it's your job to protect the entire crew."  
"We're all tough, we can protect ourselves." Jack chimed in, helping both of them on to their feet.  
"If anything it's my fault." Geoff said.  
There was a huge ground shaking explosion from behind the house. The fire must have caused the cars in the garage to explode.  
"I think that's our sign to get out of here, someone's likely to have heard that and the LSPD will come with the fire department." Jack said.  
"Where are we going to go?" Ryan asked.  
"We have a house two hours west of here." Geoff suggested.  
"Burnie and Gus have a place in the center of town." Jack said  
"I don't want to get them involved." Geoff sighed.   
"Burnie already is, he's leading the B Team right now." Jack said.  
"Where are Barbara and Blaine?"  
"They're with Gus helping Fakehaus deal with The Collectors down in their territory."  
"You didn't tell me that."   
"I didn't really have a chance."  
"We could use my house," Ryan spoke up, "It's about an hour east of here."  
Jack and Geoff looked at him, their mouths practically hanging open. He realised that he'd never mentioned his house before. He didn't really like to talk about things he's done before he met them. "It's not big, but it's well stocked with weapons and such."  
"Are you sure Ryan? I know you like your past to stay private, so you don't have to-"  
"I want to Geoff. We have to help the lads, we-"  
"Lead the way then Ryan, we'll follow." Jack interrupted. Ryan nodded and got on his bike, driving off towards the horizon, the sun setting behind them.

Ray was having an awful time. The last thing he remembered was talking about dicks, and then there was a car crash. He had woken up a few minutes ago in a large white room he didn't recognise lying on the floor. He felt a dull ache in his shoulder that hurt more every time he moved it. He sat up slowly, groaning loudly.   
"I think Ray's awake." Michael said, smiling down at him from his standing position. You could feel the grim tension in the room. Everyone was just trying to hold together for now.  
"What happened?" He asked grabbing onto Michael to pull himself up. He found upon standing that his leg hurt as well. "I feel like shit." He whined.  
"We got hit by a car." Gavin said, moving from the back of the room towards the door.  
"Where are we now?"  
"The Collectors have us." Jeremy said   
"Who are they?" He rubbed his shoulder gently, leaning against the wall to take some weight off his leg.  
"They're the ones that kidnapped me." Michael said wrapping an arm around Ray's waist.  
Ray leaned into Michael and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "How do you guys know all this?"  
"I explained everything while you were being a bitch on the floor." Michael grinned at him, trying to ease the tension.   
"Am I the only person who got seriously fucked up in the car crash?"  
"Yea, we weren't sure if you were going to make it." Jeremy said softly, it cast the room again into a grim silence.  
"Don't worry about me, I got more fucked up than this when I lived in New York." He smiled at them, trying to lighten the mood. It felt weird to have them worrying about him. Normally he was quietly existing in the background, piping in everyone once in a while to say something clever. He felt uncomfortable. "So what are we going to do?"   
Michael sighed and adjusted Ray slightly so his body better fit against his muscular form. He pointed up to the camera in the corner of the room. "Well not much. They have a camera watching us and-"  
"Guns," Gavin interrupted, "lots of guns."   
Ray snuggled into Michael, at least they had each other. They needed to stick together if they were going to stay sane. If they were going to make it through this alive.  
"Have any of them come in yet?"  
Jeremy shook his head.  
"Well that's the best news I've heard yet." Ray smiled. He scanned the room looking at each of his boyfriends. Gavin had a large cut right below where his bright blue shirt cut off, he looked antsy. He looked over at Michael, he was holding up well, he seemed to be the one who was the least injured in the crash. His brow furrowed and it gave him a look of determination and ferocity that he only had when shit got real and honestly, it was always pretty hot. He broke his gaze away from Michael and looked over at Jeremy. Jeremy's grey tank top was covered in dried blood and he had many tiny cuts all over his bare arms and a larger one on his face. He seemed to be the worst off emotionally out of all of them, he had only been with the crew for about three months and it had been a relatively quiet couple of months, it had been the silence before the storm. Jeremy made eye contact with him, the corners of his lips twisted into a sad looking smile.   
"I hope this doesn't end up like Saw, where we have to do awful things to escape." Jeremy said, his voice wavering between fine and hysteria.  
"Wait, did you just talk about a movie?" Michael asked in surprise.  
"Yea, I mean I've seen some movies." Jeremy smiled a little.  
"Is there a scary puppet around here?" Ray grinned.  
Gavin shuddered as he turned to look at the door "Don't even talk about that movie."  
Michael looked at Ray and gave him a sinister grin. He gently helped Ray lean against the wall, then he walked over to Gavin and snuck up behind him. "Want to play a game?" he whispered and jabbed Gavin in the sides.   
Gavin let out a loud screech and flung himself into the door with a clang. Everyone started laughing, including Jeremy who looked a lot less afraid now than before.  
"Ow, Michael, that was awful." Gavin whined with a crooked smile on his face as he rubbed the knee he had banged on the door.  
"Oh, your fine," Michael said helping him on to his feet and planting a kiss on his lips, "better?" Gavin smiled savoring the kiss, the way Michael's lips felt rough against his own. He rested his hands on Michael's hips. "A little, maybe one more?"  
Michael grinned and kissed the tip of his nose. "When we get out of here I'll give you all the kisses you want, and maybe a little more." Gavin smiled and moved away from Michael, turning to look at Jeremy and Ray "We need a plan."  
"What are we gonna do? That camera is watching us at all times. We can't say anything." Michael said, pointing to the camera.  
Gavin grinned, "That camera doesn't record audio."  
"Seriously?" Jeremy yelled.  
"What?!" Michael cried, "then what have we been doing fucking around this whole time?"   
"Waiting for Ray to wake up." Gavin said sheepishly.  
"You could've been planning while I was napping, I wouldn't have minded." Ray laughed.  
"But I wanted it to be dramatic." Gavin said.  
Michael sighed, "You suck."  
"Aw Michael." Gavin whined.  
"Don't "aw Micoo" me, we could've been being productive and finding a way out of here."  
"I'm sorry Michael." Gavin said making an over exaggerated sad face.   
Michael looked like he wanted to throttle Gavin, he turned away and took a deep breath before turning back around. "Okay, so what's the plan?"

Ryan's house was surprisingly homey. It had lots of plants and books scattered around, making it look like a jungle library. The main entrance room was filled with the last natural light of twilight. There was a large leather couch in the center of the room over an ornate rug which both sat in front of a large flat screen tv. Geoff sighed and sat down on couch. He was dreading this. He had to tell them, he wasn't excited to tell them, but they had to know. He had to tell them what had happened. They needed to know the truth. He rubbed his hands over his face and groaned.   
Ryan and Jack walked in from what appeared to be a bedroom and looked at him with concern.  
"I know your worried about them Geoff," Jack sat down next to him and grabbed his hand, "But I just got off the phone with Trevor and he said they've got the whole team looking."  
Geoff stood up and went over to the kitchen, he rooted through Ryan's fridge. "Don't you have any liquor in here?"   
Ryan gave a faint smile and came over to the counter, "You know I don't drink."   
Geoff slammed the fridge door closed. "I know," he ran a hand through his hair, "Look, I may not have been entirely honest with you guys about what happened on that mission." He looked down at the marble counter top of the island and ran a finger along its design.  
Ryan narrowed his eyes and leaned back against the sink, "What do you mean?"  
Jack stood up and made his way towards the two of them, "What's going on Geoff?"  
"Well," he looked at them both nervously, how was he going to say this? "I, see, I had this thing-" he sighed, no use beating around the bush on this one, "fuck it, I used to date the guy you know as The Extractor."  
Ryan looked at him and shook his head as if to knock the thought around in his head. "W-what?" He shouted.  
Jack stared at him with his mouth hanging open.  
"Look, it ended right around the time you and I started working together with Jack. We went on a heist, a friend of his got killed and we went our separate ways."   
"I'm going to need a little more info than that." Ryan said.   
He remembered the heist well, he doubted he would ever forget it.   
"It was before I had met any of you. David, that's his name, had accepted me into his gang, I was just a nobody back then with nothing. We had been going to rob an armored truck that was passing through northern Los Santos. I was the driver, David was on a nearby boat ready to pick us up and his friend was sitting in the back on weapons duty. We didn't know there was another gang going after the car as well and we were out manned and out gunned. One of them slammed into the car we were in, I lost control of the car. I was lucky to have gotten out alive, David's friend wasn't so lucky. We had a huge fight that night and David told me that it was all my fault and he," Geoff hated talking about this part, he hated how weak it made him feel. "He beat the shit out of me." Now, he would've hit him back, would've made him regret it. But he had been so young back then and he had loved him. "Things were like that for a couple of days. Then one night he got really drunk. He held a gun to my head and told me to leave. I didn't even get to pack up my things and I ended up sleeping at a bus stop that night. That's where I met you." He said motioning to Jack with a sad smile.  
Jack looked back at Geoff, feeling overwhelmed and confused. He had been going to steal his wallet that morning, but he felt so bad for Geoff, who had looked so pitifully cute, that he invited him to stay at his place for a couple of days which ended up being weeks, then months and so on. Geoff had seldom talked about his past relationships. He had mentioned in passing that he had been in a bad relationship, but never imagined this. He remembered how jumpy Geoff had been when he first met him. He could feel his heart breaking. "Geoff I-" but he stopped. He thought about how this must feel for Geoff. This had happened so long ago he probably thought it was over, but suddenly he was back and he had all the power in this situation. He had kidnapped and tortured people Geoff had loved. What could he possibly say that would make any of this better?   
"I never saw him again until the night we went on the mission to kill the gang leader." He turned his gaze to Ryan, "I was in a tough spot that night and I saw David, he said he could help me find the gang leader. I was so surprised to see him that I foolishly believed him and followed him. He trapped me in a little room and well I don't really remember anything else." He looked down at the counter top again. He was lying when he said he didn't remember any of it, David had only drugged him after pulling out his teeth. There was interrogations, punches, threats, tears and cursing. It has been like old times and he remembered all of it. Every minute. "It seems that his hatred for me had grown over our time apart." Jack came over and wrapped his arms around him. "I'm sorry Geoff." He whispered in his ear, "I'm so sorry."  
Ryan came and hugged him as well. "I'm going to kill him." He said, his grip on Geoff becoming tighter.   
Jack rubbed his back. "Don't worry Geoff, it's not just you anymore. You have all of us now and we will find him."  
Suddenly Geoff felt Jack's phone vibrate against him. "Oh sorry, I should get this. We're talking about this more when I get back." Jack said looking guilty as he went into the bedroom again.  
Ryan kissed the top of his head. "Do you want some coffee?"  
Geoff nodded. "Coffee would be nice." He sighed, it felt surprisingly nice to let them know, even though the lads still being gone was tearing him apart inside. He could see the stress it was causing everyone through their smallest actions, the way Jack jumped when the phone rang, the way Ryan's hand shook when he poured the coffee, they were all coming apart at the seams.   
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Geoff said looking at the books Ryan of which he had many.  
"Don't you dare apologize," He said as he poured water into the coffee maker, his words came out quick and hot. "You've done nothing wrong. It's not your fault the guys a pitiful excuse for a human being." He grabbed two cups out of the cupboard and blew some dust off of them. He poured a cup for Geoff and himself. "We can't change our past Geoff. No matter how much we want to and if not talking about it was what helped heal the wound, then that's fine. But you told us because we needed to know. You let us know who we're dealing with and gave us some insight into who he is. You've done nothing but be helpful." He handed Geoff his cup of coffee and they drank them quietly.  
Jack walked back into the room, he was staring at the phone. "That was Burnie, they've found Jeremy."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're almost there! Next chapter is the finale! So it might take me a little longer to post this one because, you know, it's the last one. I hope you like this chapter and prepare yourselves for the final chapter.

Jeremy didn't like this plan. This plan had a great chance of someone ending up shot and bleeding on the floor or just plain dead. It was a sloppily put together plan that they had come up with in a short amount of time and it was being held together by hope and a stubborn will to survive. 

"Are you sure about this?" He asked nervously, shifting from foot to foot. He mind was racing with thoughts of awful outcomes.

"Yea, I'm sure. You're the fastest lil J," Michael wrapped an arm around him and gave him a sweet smile, "You're our best bet. We're counting on you." 

He felt a little nauseous, very nauseous. "I don't know..." He said trying to swallow the rising fear that was catching in his throat.

Gavin walked over to him and pressed a kiss to his lips. Jeremy's face flushed red, he still wasn't used to how open the crew was about their relationship. They were always giving each other kisses at home and everywhere else. They were the most loving relationship he'd ever been in and he didn't want to lose them. "I believe in you Jeremy. You can do this." He gave Jeremy one more kiss.

"Yeah," Jeremy smiled a little, "So, can we go over the plan one more time?" He asked, shifting anxiously again.

Michael nodded. "Okay." He motioned towards the door, "When someone comes in here, we're all going to rush them, Gavin's going to distract him, I'm going to try to attack him from the behind, Ray's going to run to the right and you're going to run towards what we think is the direction of the exit. It'll be better if we split up at first. It gives us a better chance of at least one of us not getting captured."

"This still sounds like a really shitty plan." Ray remarked.

"Shut up Ray." Michael said, "You helped with it, so if it fails it's your fault too."

"Alright." Ray said, "I'll just wait by the door so we can start this train wreck. Wooh Wooh!" Ray yelled, making train motions with his arms.

Michael laughed, but it was a laugh tinged with fear.

"We'll be fine. They won't even know what hit 'em!" Gavin smiled and and squeezed Jeremy's shoulder. 

Jeremy nodded, "Alright. I can do this."   
Now all they had to do was wait, this was the hardest part by far. Jeremy felt an itching anxiety every moment they stood there. He really wanted to prove his talents, he wanted to make them proud. Most off all he wanted to show that he deserved this place on the crew. This wasn't quite the way he thought he would end up showing them, but this would work, he could do this. 

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He needed to clear his head, he couldn't make good decisions if he was jumpy and afraid. He needed to be able to move on a dime and run fast. If he messed this up he could end up killing everyone. He inhaled sharply feeling a spike in his growing anxiety. Nope don't think about that, that was a mistake.

He thought about the city of Los Santos. Once he got out of here, he would need to make it on foot to some place safe. They had driven away from their house and around Los Santos, but after that none of them had any idea. The men had provably driven in circles for a while before taking them to their hideout. So he would just have to run. 

He decided he would go to Burnie's it was located in the center of Los Santos and he knew how to get there since he had worked there before. He opened his eyes as he heard the door click and the door swung inward. Everyone's bodies tensed as the man came into view. He wasn't too big, they could take him.

"LLLLLEEEEEEETTTTSSS GO!" Ray yelled, shoved the man and took off, limp running quickly towards down the hallway heading right. "SEE YA!"

The man looked shocked as he stumbled back, Ray's ear bursting yell had probably helped. He fired off a few shots that they all managed to dodge. The rest of them burst out into the hallway. Gavin was in the hall taunting the man with cat calls and blown kisses. Michael was flanking the man and so Jeremy decided to make a run for it. He passed the man, who decided to make a grab for him, so Michael wrapped an arm around the man's neck and his muscles rippled as he squeezed. The man was flailing and grabbing at his neck, it reminded Jeremy of how this all started and he reached up for his neck absentmindedly.

"Go Lil J!" Michael yelled and Gavin blew him a kiss. 

He smiled back at them, his chest filling with a feeling of warmth as he looked at his boyfriends, and ran around the corner. He ran without any trouble for a while. He was surprised, but it made sense. They had burned down two of their previous warehouses, so they were probably running on the bare minimum. He took a couple of turns down some hallways, not really sure where he should go. They were drugged coming in here probably for this very reason. 

He came to a stop as he saw a pair of double doors. They were out of place with all the other doors he had seen, hopefully this way led to the exit. He opened the doors slowly and saw that they opened to a large storage. It was filled with crates and shelves of items, most of which appeared to be a variety of drugs and weapons. In the opposite corner of the room he saw what he was looking for. It had a big glowing exit sign above it which made Jeremy smile, it was literally a neon sign that was telling him how to escape. He slowly made his way towards the exit, moving crate to crate and shelf to shelf. From in front of him he heard a woman's voice. He watched from in between the shelves as she spoke into a walkie talkie. 

"No. That's okay. I'll be there soon." She said looking around the large room, she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. He ran towards the next shelf and hit it with his knee. _Fuuuuuccckkk._ The woman looked in his direction as walkie talkie crackled and hissed.

"No, I know, but not for long. We're getting more guys in from down south today. I have to go orient them to their positions." She grinned, "One minute I think there's a little rat in here." She made her way towards where he was. He held his breath in fear and looked at the steel shelf in front of him. He took a deep breath of relief as he saw one of the boxes contained some hand guns. He grabbed a pistol from the shelf and prayed to God that it was loaded. There was another static response. 

"Yea. I think I'm gonna cut him open and show him what we do to little dirty rodents," she laughed. "Then I'm-" He stood up and aimed the gun. The woman pulled out her own gun in surprise and he let off a shot. It hit her right between the eyes and she toppled over, her body hitting the concrete floors with a thud. He felt a hot, searing pain. He looked over and saw that the bullet had grazed his arm. She was a bad shot, he smiled and tucked the weapon into his pants. 

Someone would have definitely heard that shot. It was time for him to leave. He sprinted towards the exit and threw the door open. He felt the hot dry air hit his face and took a deep breath of it. He looked back at the large metal building behind him that shined in the noon day sun. He didn't know if his boyfriends were safe or even if they were alive, but for now all he could do was run and if he ran fast enough maybe everyone would be.

 

The sound of footsteps echoed around Gavin as he crouched behind a very leafy plant. He was in trouble. His part of the plan after Jeremy ran was to meet up with Michael and find Ray because when three of them teamed up they could do anything. But the guy Michael took down had called for back up and both of them had took off running in different directions. 

Now he was alone and surrounded. He peeked out from behind the plant, only to see that the coast was still not clear. Two men were searching the hall to the right of him and two women was opening room after room to his left, they were slowly coming closer. Gavin felt his heart pounding in his chest, if he didn't do something soon he would get caught and seeing what they did to Michael, he really wanted no part of it. He looked down the hall at the men, one of them was talking into a walkie talkie. Suddenly the man looked down at his walkie talkie in shock and took off down the hall past the women and out of sight. The other man ran after him. The two women shrugged and continued closer to him. He took a deep breath and stood up. He started running down the opposite end of the hallway. He felt a bullet whiz past him and he let out a squawk. He turned a corner and felt someone drag him into a dark room. He flailed and yelled. He didn't want them to take him. He wasn't a stubborn as Michael was and he wasn't as tough. He would crack. He would-

"Shut the fuck up Gavin!" Michael whispered as he hugged him close. Gavin stopped flailing. "Michael?" he asked as his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room.

"You okay?" Ray asked.

"I'm better now that you're here." Gavin said with a sigh of relief.

"Well I mean of course you are." Ray grinned and took a gun out of his purple hoodie.

"There are ladies-" he spoke motioning to the hallway.

The woman ran around the corner and Ray quickly shot them both. Gavin was impressed especially since one of his shoulders had been dislocated earlier that day.

"Where did you guys get guns?" Gavin asked, he wanted a gun.

"We got them off some guards because while you were fucking around we were actually doing things and trying to find you!" He looked around the corner to see if the coast was clear. "Come on let's go. We've got to find the guy who kidnapped us. We're going to make him regret messing with this crew."

Gavin looked at Michael, his brow furrowed. "Why don't we just leave?"

"We have no idea where the exit is, or even really where we started from. This place is like a maze and all the hallways look the same. So honestly were just sneaking around trying to find anything." Ray shrugged. "Now let's go, people are gonna show up soon." He stepped over the bodies of the women and down the hall.

Gavin grabbed Michael's hand and followed behind Ray.

 

Jack almost cried when he saw Jeremy. He was sitting in one of the meeting room chairs he was drinking a water bottle and taking with Matt, Trevor and Burnie. The coldness of the room hit him when he entered. He immediately noticed that his arm was bleeding and his blue sneakers were sitting on the table. The tips of the shoes were mottled red with blood.

When he saw the three of them coming towards him his face lit up and he tried to walk towards them, Matt forced him back down into his chair. 

Geoff ran up to him and pressed kisses to his sweaty face and hair. "Jeremy! Oh Jeremy! Are you okay?" He turned to him. "Jack does he look okay?" He turned back to Jeremy and gripped his shoulders. "How did you get here? What happened? When did you arrive?"

"Woah Geoff," Burnie smiled, "The boys got minor heat stroke. Just give him a minute."

Geoff nodded and became content with holding Jeremy's hand.

Jack smiled and wrapped him in a hug from behind the chair, he was wet with sweat and his skin felt hot. He looked at his arm, it was just a grazing bullet wound, nothing to really worry about, he released Jeremy and knelt down at his feet. "Let me look at your feet."

Jeremy nodded at him and lifted his feet up. Jack grabbed them gently, but Jeremy still flinched at the contact.

His feet looked like raw pounded meat. He was missing at least 4 toenails which would explain the blood. He had blisters covering the soles and many had already popped. "How far did you run?" He asked, he shuddered to think of how much pain he had been in while running here.

Jeremy looked down and gave him a slight smile, "Pretty far." 

"He passed out when he got in here." Trevor said, resting his head on top of Jeremy's sweaty hair. "We were really worried, but we got him in front of some fans and he came around." 

"We called you as soon as he came in." Burnie said looking at him

"Has he been drinking lots of water?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm not completely useless. I also helped get his shoes off and disinfected his feet." Burnie said with a huff. He looked to Matt and Trevor, "Don't you two have jobs to do?"

They looked at each other sheepishly, "Sorry we'll get on that!" Matt said as he headed for the door. They both waved goodbye to Jeremy.   
"We'll see you later." Trevor promised as they left the room.

Jack felt slightly embarrassed, "Sorry Burnie I-"

"Don't worry about it, I know you're just worried." Burnie said waving his hand dismissively.

"I hate to ruin our happy reunion," Ryan spoke for the first time since entering the room. He moved from the back wall towards the front of the group. "But Jeremy," he looked at the exhausted boy from across the table, "where are the others?"

A silence settled over what had once been a cheerful, if frantically caring, room. They were all looking at Jeremy, waiting for a response.

"We had a plan see," he spoke trying to pull thoughts from his heat frazzled head. "and so they're all back there, wandering around the building. The building they're in, it's metal and it's about three hours north of here if you're on foot." He took a drink of water. "I'm sorry I can't be more help. It's on a dusty road and its in the country and, and, and-"

Jack watched as Ryan came around the table and kissed the top of Jeremy's head, hushing him. "Your okay Jeremy, you've given us a lot to go on." He moved back around the table and he and Geoff and himself headed towards the door.

Jeremy tried to stand up, but his legs gave out from under him as he did so, Burnie moved to catch him. "I want to go! I can help!" His face looked red and desperate as he leaned against Burnie, struggling to stand up. Then he said more quietly, "I don't want to be alone." 

Geoff turned to Jack. "Will you stay here with Jeremy?" 

He understood why Geoff had asked him. Ryan was the mad mercenary, a strong killer and Geoff had personal things he had to deal with in this mission, but it didn't make him any less annoyed that it had to be him.

Jack nodded and moved across the room towards Jeremy. He wrapped his arms around him and helped him back into his chair. As much as it pained him not to go, he knew that he was needed here just as much as he would be there. "Yea, call us if you need anything okay?"

Ryan nodded and Geoff left the room, and he knew that regardless of what happened out there, none of them would come back the same.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is the final chapter. I'm so surprised we're here. I never expected to get here when I first started writing this. It's been a journey for sure. I've definitely learned a lot, made some friends, improved my writing ability. It's been a great thing.

It was almost five by the time they got there. They had to pick up weapons from a storage unit Geoff owned, had to sort through maps to decide where to look, talk to their contacts and the entire time Ryan felt like they were too late. That by the time they got there, there wouldn't be anyone to safe.

He pulled Gavin's phone from his pocket and rubbed its golden case. He stared at the building from across the street and adjusted his mask, feeling an intense fear that was clawing at him just below the surface. 

"Are you ready Ryan?" Geoff asked, grabbing his shoulder. He jumped a little, he was on edge. They both were.

"Yeah, I'm ready." He said quietly, preparing himself for the killing that was to come.

"Ryan, I want you to know that whatever happens in there, I lo-" 

"I know." He said lifting his mask to press a kiss to the side of his face. Geoff didn't have to say anything, he knew how he felt. "Don't worry."

He opened the car door and made his way around to the trunk. Geoff popped open the lid and he sorted through their large stock pile of weapons. He pulled out three knives and hid them in his belt, he watched Geoff pull out ab SMG. Then he took out a rocket launcher, it was Ray's, the bright pink one he bought him for Christmas two years ago. He felt a pang of sadness as he lifted it out of the trunk and on to his shoulder. 

He aimed the rocket launcher at the building and pulled the trigger. He watched as it collided with the wall in an fiery explosion, sending pieces of rubble flying in all directions. He dropped the rocket launcher back into the trunk with a thud. They waited for the fire and smoke to clear before quickly making their way across the desert towards the large hole that exposed the building inside.

They had previously agreed that splitting up would be best, they would be quicker that way and wouldn't have all of the guards on them at once, but now he wasn't sure if he wanted that. He didn't want to leave Geoff, he didn't want him to work alone. He knew how hard this was going to be for him and he was worried. He didn't know what would happen if Geoff saw The Extractor again. But Geoff was already moving away from him, a fierce determined look on his face. So they went their separate ways to find their boyfriends, hoping they were still alive.

 

"Why are we in the vents?" Ray asked, massaging his injured leg with his fingers. All of the running they had been doing was really taking its toll on the wound and it was starting to really hurt. The pain was a sharp, aching pain that radiated from just below his knee up to his hip.

"Because we ran out of ammo trying to shoot down that last guy." Michael sighed adjusting himself in the cramped tunnel to make more room for him and Gavin. 

"Michael," Gavin whined, "How long do we have to be in here? I'm feeling claustrophobic."

Michael sighed, "Just until those guys we were shooting at pass," he turned to him. "Are they gone yet?"

He peeked through the metal grate of the vent, "No, unfortunately, they're still there. A few of them have left, but there's still no way we could take down the remaining ones without weapons."

"Can't we just go? We could take them." Gavin whined, pressing into Michael.

"No, we're not going to get ourselves killed because you're uncomfortable," Michael snapped.

"But Michael I-"

Suddenly there was a loud explosion that rocked the whole building, Ray looked outside the vent and saw the remaining people scatter. He turned towards Michael and Gavin and smiled.

"I think the gents are here." Michael grinned. 

"So what's the plan?" He asked looking out into the hallway where people were running by, most likely trying to get the where the explosion was.

"Well, the gents will be looking for us, all we have to do is find them." Michael said.

Suddenly a ginger haired man's head popped into the vent hole next to Gavin.

"I knew I heard something in here!" The man shouted and made a grab for Gavin.

Gavin let out a cry and threw himself against Michael, who in turn was thrown against Ray, who was pressed against the vent grate. The weak metal of the grate gave out and they were all thrown into the busy hallway.

"Fuck!" Michael yelled as he looked at the people around them. They were all holding weapons of some sort and we're looking down at them, shocked. 

Gavin quickly stood up and yanked both of them to their feet. "LEG IT!!!" He yelled as he took off down the hallway, shoving the shocked men and women in his way onto the floor. They followed quickly behind. This seemed to knock the others out of their shocked state and they bolted after them.

Ray quickly realized he was falling behind, his limp was making him much slower than usual and the group was catching up. He could hear footsteps close behind him. Not good. He checked over his shoulder and saw a large man less than five feet behind him. He looked ahead of him again and saw Michael and Gavin turn a corner and disappear from view. Shit.

The man hit him in the back of his injured leg with the crowbar and he crumpled to the ground, crying out loudly in pain. He grabbed his leg and tried to stand as the man who had hit him hovered over him, but he couldn't. He was totally fucked. The rest of the men seemed to have gone after Michael and Gavin and he hoped that they would be okay. He then turned his focus back to the current predicament he found himself in.

The man was huge with grossly massive muscles. He wouldn't have been able to beat the guy if he was in top condition let alone right now.

"Hey kid," he stared down at him with a smile.

They made eye contact for a minute, neither one making a move before Ray broke and scrambled backwards trying to escape. The man laughed and began hitting him in the back with the crowbar. He winced as the crowbar hit his sides and spine. Ray knew the man wasn't hitting as hard as he could, but he hit hard enough to crack one of Ray's ribs. He curled into a ball trying to protect himself. He was going to die here, he thought. This wasn't how he had imagined it, at the hands of a crowbar, but it wasn't the worst death he could imagine. He felt the blows slowly stop and he carefully and painfully uncurled himself.

"You gonna stop strugglin' now?" The man asked, his crowbar hanging loosely by his side.

Ray looked up at him and immediately saw Ryan standing behind the man, his mask peeking over his shoulder. His heart skipped a beat and he felt the warmth of hope and love fill his pained chest. Ryan put one finger up to his mouth. He fought back the urge to grin and nodded solemnly at the large muscled man. 

The man smiled, "Good, good. I don't want to hurt you too badly, boss wouldn't like it if you were real broken before I could give you to him. He likes to do the breakin' himself."

He leaned towards him, making to grab the front of his blood stained purple sweatshirt and that's when Ryan pounced. He began stabbing the man repeatedly in the back with his knife in rapid quick motions. The man let out an awful cry, turned around and swung his crowbar at him with force.

Ryan jumped nimbly backward, narrowly avoiding the weapon and watched as the man weakly came after him. He laughed a cold, cruel laugh and threw the knife he was holding. It spun and buried itself in the man's chest. He screamed in pain and stumbled backwards, yanking at the knife. It gave Ryan enough time to get close and shove another knife right under the man's chin and into his soft palate. He pulled it out and then in one quick motion, slit the his throat. 

The man fell to the floor with a loud thud and immediately his blood began to pool on the white linoleum floor. Ray moved backwards to avoid making contact with the growing crimson puddle.

To him, the whole thing seemed to have happened in the blink of an eye and it left his heart racing. Seeing Ryan in a fight always amazed him, the man was truly legendary. He was cold and calculated and it was no wonder he had killed so many without getting caught.

Ryan wiped his blades on his shirt and put them back in his belt. He looked over at Ray and darted towards him. He crouched down next to him and pulled his mask up revealing his face which was full of fear and worry.

"I'm so sorry Ray, I'm so so sorry." Ryan said frantically, running his hands over Ray's arms. "I should've been here, I shouldn't have let anything happen to you. I'm sorry."

He took a deep breath, the first one in a long time and felt his heart slow its pace, "Ryan, I'm okay now." And he was, now that Ryan was here, he was okay.

"Can you walk?" Ryan asked.

Ray shook his head, "No, he really fucked up my leg." He thought about the pain that he had felt when the metal crowbar had collided with the back of his knee and shuddered. He knew the adrenalin was keeping the pain at bay for now, but sooner or later it would catch up with him and he wasn't excited for that.

Ryan glared at the man lying dead on the floor and pulled his mask back down. He carefully picked Ray up off the ground and cradled him in his strong arms. Ryan looked down the hall and gripped him tightly. He felt his cheeks get hot as he looked up at him. Pieces of his long blonde hair were sticking out from the bottom his mask and the black around the eye holes of the mask made his eyes seem so blue.

"This is really gay Ryan..." He said resting his head on his shoulder. 

Ryan looked at him through the mask and lifted it slightly, pressing a kiss to his forehead. That was when he heard a yell in the distance. The yell sounded almost primal. He was pretty sure it was Michael who had screamed and that sent shivers down his spine.

"Was that Michael?" He asked looking at Ryan with fear.

Ryan looked grimly in the direction that the scream came from. "Hold on tight." He said, his voice firm. He wrapped his arms around Ryan's neck as he began to run towards whatever trouble awaited ahead.

 

"Keep up guys!" He yelled as he sprinted down the hallway. At the end of the hall was two double doors, he figured he Gavin and Ray could hide in there because they were all in pretty rough shape. They would find the gents soon enough, they would follow the trail of destruction they left behind. But they just needed to rest for a little while, especially Ray.

Suddenly he heard Gavin stop behind him, "C'mon we're almost there, just a little farther." He stopped and turned around to face him. 

Gavin looked at him with horror on his face, "Michael, Ray's gone!" He cried, looking down the hallway in distress. "We have to go back for him."

Michael felt his heart drop as he looked and saw that Gavin was right, Ray was gone. They had gotten him. He heard their pursuers footsteps echoing down the hall around the corner. 

"We've got to keep going." He said and it ripped him apart inside, but he knew it was true. They were wounded and out numbered with no weapons. They didn't have a choice.

"No! We can't just leave him there!"

"There's nothing we can do Gavin! All that's going to happen if we go back there is get hurt and captured as well!"

Gavin looked at him, anger and guilt clouded his face. "Michael I can't-"

He grabbed Gavin's shoulders. "The best thing we can do for him is find the gents. They'll have weapons and we can find him together. We aren't leaving him alone forever. We will find him." He heard yelling from the end of the hallway as the group made their way towards them. "We've got to go."

Gavin nodded solemnly and they ran towards the doors at the end of the hall. Footsteps pounded against the floor behind them.

"Take cover Gavin." He cried as he heard a couple gun shots go off. He rammed through the doors and into what appeared to be a storage room. He looked behind him for a moment to see if Gavin was still with him. He didn't want to lose anyone else. He felt a deep aching pang in his chest as he thought about how they had just left Ray behind. He saw that Gavin was standing near the doorway. He had stopped running and was clutching his stomach. 

"Gavin?" He spoke, looking at his shocked and confused face.

He removed his hand from his stomach and it came back a deep red. Michael watched as a rose of blood bloomed on his shirt and he fell to the ground. He felt fear and pain erupt inside of him and he let out an anguished cry. He ran to him, not caring about the gunshots or the people running after them. In that moment all he could think about was Gavin. Gavin who had just been shot, who was bleeding on the floor, who he had thought he had lost once already and who he might be losing right now.

He laced his arms under Gavin's shoulders and began dragging him backwards towards a large crate located behind them. He leaned his back up against the box. He took a deep breath and tried to compose himself. He wasn't going to do anyone any good by panicking. He had to stay strong and alert for Gavin's sake. He crouched down next to him and brushed the hair out of his face. He was still conscious which was good, he just needed to keep him that way. Gavin seemed dazed and in shock. He grabbed his hand and interlocked their fingers, the blood on Gavin's hand making his hand slick. He gave his hand a squeeze and he felt a squeeze in return

"Gavin? Are you with me boy?" He spoke, it coming out more hysterical than he'd wanted it to.

Gavin turned his head to look at him, "Michael, do you think that if a cat-" he laughed a little which caused him to flinch in pain and his laughter died in a whimper. Michael clenched his jaw and tried to banish away the anger that was rising in his chest.

"Gavin if you ask me a hypothetical question right now I swear," he kissed Gavin's forehead gently and ran his hand through his golden hair.

Gavin smiled cheekily. "Do you want me to talk about coins instead?" 

He scowled and lifted up Gavin's shirt. The bullet had hit him below the ribs and the wound was bleeding pretty heavily. He looked at him with concern and thought about how much pain he must be in, but he just grinned back at him. He sighed, Gavin got like this when he got really hurt. He hated when people were upset with him or about him. He wanted everyone to smile, but Michael wasn't going to smile until he was safe.

They needed to get out of here. He looked around, and sure enough saw an exit not too far away. He was making a move to stand up, when he heard the door to the room open and foot steps move through out the room. He quickly got back to the cover of the box.

"Come out little boys." The man called  
and he recognised the voice as the man who had kidnapped him and everyone else. Michael cursed in a whisper and began to put pressure on Gavin's wound, they might be here a while. He felt the warm blood coating his hands as he pushed down on the wound and Gavin cried out in pain. The bullet must still be inside he thought as he removed his hands from the wound and covered Gavin's mouth, but it was too late. He heard the man walking towards them.

"I'm sorry I had to shoot your friend," he spoke in his smooth confident voice. "But I had to get you to slow down. I couldn't have you escaping." The man appeared around the corner of the box and aimed his gun at them. "I hadn't gotten to play with you yet." He grinned a toothy smile that radiated hate.

Michael held Gavin close and glared at the man with hatred in his eyes. 

"Fuck off." Gavin said softly, malice lacing his usually kind voice. He smiled to himself, even though he was hurt, Gavin wouldn't be going down without a fight and neither would he. Michael grabbed Gavin and stood up slowly. The man's gun followed him as he went.

"Getting ballsy are we?" The man asked, "Well don't try anything too brave. I don't want to have to cut this little game of ours short and kill you before I planned."

"If you're gonna kill us anyway, why not do it now?" He asked defiantly. He's never been good with mind games, he'd always just let his fists say what they had too.

"What would be the fun in that?" The man asked and began to circle around them slowly.

Michael heard drops of Gavin's blood hitting the concrete floor, he held him closer and felt him cling weakly to his shirt. He didn't fucking have time for this. He felt a familiar sense of rage build in his chest.

"Just do whatever you're going to do!" Michael shouted. The room went quiet as the man stopped circling him. He felt the cold muzzle of the gun press against his temple and heard him pull the trigger.

Michael took a deep breath as he realized he was still alive and tried to stop trembling.

The man laughed and removed the gun from his temple. "I only have one bullet in here you know, I wasted the other five shooting at your friend. I'm not a great shot." He whispered into his ear as he spun the chambers. "Who knows which chamber it's in, I'm not even sure."He placed the gun against his temple again and he gripped Gavin a little tighter. He pulled the trigger again and Michael felt like he was back in that white room. He was powerless. There was nothing he could do.

Suddenly, he heard the door to the room swing open and saw Geoff enter the room. Geoff made one sweeping glance across the room before he aimed his gun at the man.   
"Drop your weapon David." He commanded and the man smiled.

 

Geoff saw Michael and Gavin and felt himself go cold. Michael was covered in blood and sweat. His curly red hair stuck to his forehead and he was carrying the heavily bleeding Gavin close to his chest. Gavin was holding on to Michael with what seemed to be all of his strength. His shirt and mouth were covered in blood and he was slowly creating a puddle of it on the floor. 

He felt a cold hatred fill him as he drew his gun, it was just a pistol he had pulled off one of the guards, his SMG had run out of bullets a while ago. He aimed it directly at him.

"Drop your weapon David." He said with a cold glare. David smiled at him and kept his weapon on Michael.

Michael looked at him with confusion. "Do you know him?"

David looked at him with a wicked smile. "Oh, they don't know?" He laughed and turned to Michael. "We were lovers. We used to date."

He watched as Michael's face morphed from confusion to horror then back to confusion. "Geoff is that-" 

"It was a long time ago, it was a mistake." He said with a sneer.

"I'm a mistake am I? After everything I did for you?" David asked pressing the gun more firmly against Michael's temple.

"What did you ever do for me?" Geoff yelled, feeling anger rise up in his chest. The sight of David reminded him of every awful thing the man had ever done to him. The torture, the sleepless nights, the punches, the yelling matches, everything.

"I taught you everything you know Geoffrey." He snarled looking more like a feral dog than a human being.

"Really?!" Geoff snapped feeling a strong hatred for the man because he knew hatred was so much easier than facing the sadness, love, and fear that he'd felt since seeing David again. "I don't seem to remember it that way."

"I suppose you thought we were equals!" He sneered, "You poor fool."

"Look how the original crew did without me!" He said, a bitterness in his voice. "They aren't here now!"

"That had nothing to do with you! That had to do with Sam." 

Geoff cringed on hearing his name, Sam had been the one who had died in the crash. He and David had been friends since they were children. He felt a sense of guilt wash over him. "That wasn't my fault."

"Of course it was. You were driving the car when it crashed and he was killed. If he was still alive, it would all be different! But you were pathetic and useless and he was killed because of your stupidity." 

"That's not my fault!" He was done blaming himself for all of this. He was done accepting responsibility for an unfortunate accident. "Sam dying was tragic, but you know in this field of work accidents happen. I know it's awful, but people die!" He let out a sigh. "People die and it isn't always someone's fault."

"No. NO!" He screamed. "You did this, all of this is your fault and he's" he said jabbing Michael with the gun, "he's going to die."

David grabbed Michael's hair and yanked his head back, shoving the gun under his chin. Geoff saw Michael tighten, his jaw clench and his eyes close. His breathing got rapid and Geoff clutched the gun tighter in his shaking hands.

"Get away from him!" He shouted, feeling his chest seize in fear. "He has no part in this! This is between you and me!"

"You took away everything important to me." He yelled and tears began to run down his cheeks. "Now I'm going to take it all from you." He saw David's finger tighten on the trigger.

Geoff let out a gasp and fired. He was unsure of whether it would make any difference or if Michael was already dead. It all seemed to happen too fast. The bullet hit its mark and David went limp and collapsed, blood leaking from the bullet hole in his head. Michael also sank to the ground, falling back against the wall, his arms loosely holding Gavin.

"Michael?!" Geoff shouted, dropping his gun and running across the the floor towards them.

"Geoff..." Michael said, his voice weak and scared. He lifted his head and smiled faintly.

Geoff started to cry, warm tears rolled down his cheeks mixing with the dirt and blood of the day, but he didn't care. He welcomed the tears. They were tears of exhaustion and joy. He sank down to his knees next to them. He grabbed Michael's cheeks and kissed him fiercely. All the fear left his chest and he was finally able to breath. So he breathed in Michael, the man he had been sure, moments before, had been dead. But he was alive. He was alive and breathing and his lips tasted of blood and sweat and sweet relief.

"Geoff," Michael said quietly, pulling away from him. "We have to take care of Gavin." 

And Geoff was brought back to the moment and everything that was happening. That there was still danger and that they were not yet in the clear. He looked down at Gavin. He was pale, his shirt soaked in blood. Geoff could see he was breathing, shallowly, but still breathing and every so often Gavin's eyelids would flutter. Michael brushed the hair out of Gavin's eyes and whispered to him softly. Geoff stood up and looked for the exit.

Michael stood up slowly as well, holding Gavin close. "He'll be alright, right?" Michael asked, his voice tender and vulnerable and Geoff realized that they might lose him. That after everything that had happened he might be too late. That Gavin might die. He felt panic consuming him, but he looked at Michael's face and realised that would be the worst thing to tell him.

"He'll be fine Michael. I promise." He said with a small smile. Michael searched his face with scrutiny and then looked back down at Gavin.

He heard the door open behind him and he spun around. Why had he dropped his gun? He sighed as he saw that it Ryan, he was cradling Ray in his arms. Geoff waved him over with a panic. Was Ray hurt too? Was Ray... dead? He felt the panic grow. But as Ryan got closer he could tell that Ray was fine, snuggled up close to Ryan, breathing and smiling softly. 

"What happened here?" Ryan asked, looking at the blood on the ground.

"Gavin's been shot, he's really hurt Ryan." Michael said, the panic clearly audible in his voice. 

Ryan nodded and handed off Ray to him. He lifted him into his arms and held him close. He inspected Ray's form for injury and noticed his leg. His knee was swollen and already was forming dark purple and blue bruises. He had deep cuts running up and down his leg, they had stopped bleeding at some point and we're now scanned over. He also noticed Ray looked at Gavin with alarm. He kissed his forehead gently, trying to qualm his fears. 

"He'll be alright," That was all he could do for Ray right then, he would have Jeremy and Jack look at his leg when they got back to Burnies.

Ryan had finished examining Gavin and grabbed him from the exhausted looking Michael who gave him up reluctantly. 

"Let's get out of here." He spoke firmly as he walked towards the glowing green exit light. 

Geoff nodded and followed, with Ray in his arms and Michael close behind. He took one last look at the crumpled form on the floor and felt a pang of sadness and guilt, and he hated himself for it. He hated that he still felt guilty about something that he knew wasn't his fault. He hated that after everything that had happened and all the pain he had caused that he had still loved him, that somewhere in his heart he had still wanted David to love him too. It made him sick. He looked down at Ray, who was looking back up at him with his deep brown eyes.

"It's over Geoff." He said quietly, as if he could read his thoughts. 

"Your right," he said with a sad and exhausted smile. "Let's go home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry! I'm writing an epilogue. It should be posted late this week, early next week.


	6. Chapter 6

Things were alright, Michael told himself as he tried to breath and calm his racing heart. He felt some of the panic die down as he pulled the covers off his legs. He swung his feet off the side of the bed and rubbed his hands over his face. It was just another bad dream, it hadn't been real. He was back at their new house and he was safe. He felt Gavin stir next to him and let out a soft sleepy mumble. He sighed, God he was the worlds lightest sleeper.

"Michael?" Gavin whispered as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Did you have another nightmare?" He sat up with a quiet groan and clutched his stomach. Michael knew the wound still hurt him, no matter how much he tried to hide it. He knew that now the sound of gunshots sent him into a panic where he could barely breath and it prevented him from going on missions. He felt a pang of guilt eat away at his chest. He didn't need this right now.

"Yea Gav, I'll be okay though. Just go back to sleep." He said waving a hand at him. He could deal with this on his own.

Gavin nodded slowly and lay back down. He scooted closer to Ray. Michael smiled at the two of them and stood up slowly. He made his way out to the kitchen. He wasn't too surprised to see he wasn't alone. Geoff was sitting with his head down on the large wooden table. Michael entered quietly, his bare feet padding on the kitchen tile.

"Another bad dream?" Geoff asked as he lifted his head from the table

Michael sighed and made his way over. "Yea, you too?" He asked, pulling out a chair and sitting down next to him.

He shook his head. "Nah, I was filling out some paperwork, when I noticed that Ryan had left. I'm just out here waiting for him."

Michael nodded and then let out a sigh. He'd been having nightmares at least once a week since the accident two months ago. It was really taking its toll on him. He knew Geoff had been having them as well. It didn't surprise him after what Geoff had told them about The Extractor. 

Learning about Geoff's relationship had been a shock to say the least. He hadn't said much about it and no one pried. It was over now anyway, the guy was dead. Good fucking riddance. 

But it wasn't really over, not for most of them. Jack, Jeremy, and Ryan had gotten out pretty much unscathed. But he, Geoff, Ray, and Gavin had problems either physical or emotional that they were still working out. And it fucking sucked.

"Michael look, I know a really good therapist-"

"No. I don't need a damn therapist." He snapped, Geoff looked at him with wide eyes. 

"Sorry, it's just" he sighed, "it's just gonna take some time. That's all."

Geoff nodded, "What did you dream about?"

Michael ran a hand through his hair and sighed. He and Geoff had been sharing there bad dreams with each other for a while. They found it helped when they could see the flaws in there thinking and comfort each other.

"It was about Gavin mostly." He paused, "you know just the usual dream."

"No. If it was the usual dream you would've stayed in bed. What about this one freaked you out so badly?"

Sometimes he hated how Geoff could see right through him. He took a deep breath. "Gavin was blaming me, for everything." He clenched his fists. "For Ray getting hurt, for him getting shot, he called me weak and pathetic and-and-" Michael stood up and slammed his fists on the counter, "and then they both died! Like they do in every fucking dream."

 

"I would never say those awful things." Gavin said as he walked into the kitchen, he was wearing one of Jack's shirts since most of his clothes had been destroyed in the fire. It was way to big for him and it made him look thinner than he already did. He'd been losing too much weight since getting shot and he was beginning to look like a skeleton, all skin and bones.

Ray was following close behind him wearing only boxers, his knee was wrapped tightly in ace bandages. He was holding Gavin's hand and limping slightly as he followed sleepily behind him. "We're both alive. Stop blaming yourself." Ray said with a yawn as he sat down next to Michael.

He sighed, "I'm sorry if I woke you."

"Don't apologise, silly." Gavin said kissing his forehead. "You can't stop bad dreams." He placed his hands on Michael's shoulders and planted another kiss to his nose.

Michael smiled and placed his hands on Gavin's hips, planting a kiss on his lips.

"I mean I'm kind of mad but..." Ray shot him a sleepy smile.

Michael chuckled and made a face at him.

"Hey everything alright?" Jack asked as he entered the kitchen with a shirtless Jeremy in tow.

Jeremy's horrible sunburn had faded into light tan a while back and he had gotten compliments from everyone. His eyes were barely even open as he moved towards them with a smile. Jeremy sat down next to Ray. Ray kissed his cheek and wrapped his arms around him pulling their chairs close together.

"Yea, we're fine." Geoff said smiling at Michael and Gavin. He gave Jack a kiss and cuddled into him. Jack smiled, wrapped his arms around him and gently kisses his head.

That was when Ryan walked through the door, soaked to the bone. His long blonde hair hung dripping in his face and his shirt clung to his muscular chest. He noticed everyone looking at him and said quietly. "Oh, sorry it's, uh, it's raining."

"Ryan!" Gavin cried, "You're all wet!" He ran over and grabbed Ryan's wrists.

"Yea." He smiled, his teeth chattering. He looked at Gavin deviously and shook his wet hair, spraying water all over Gavin and the entry way.

"Ryan! RYAN! Stop!" Gavin squealed, putting his hands in front of his face.

Geoff laughed and stood up to go get some towels.

"Oh I'm sorry Gavin," he grinned and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close to his wet chest. He kissed the top of his head loudly. Gavin let out a string of bird like noises and beat against Ryan's chest until he let him go. Ryan laughed and released him slowly. Gavin's shirt was now as wet as Ryan's and his hair was damp.

Michael smiled and sat down, leaning back in his chair as Geoff came back with towels. He threw one at Gavin who took off his shirt and made his way over to him. 

"No! You are not sitting on me Gavin, you're all wet!" He yelled.

Gavin stuck out his lip and made the most ridiculous frown. "Please? I'm cold!" Gavin said shivering.

Michael sighed and looked at Gavin with a fond smile, "Fine, come here."

Gavin grinned and snuggled himself into his lap. He wrapped his arms around him and rubbed his cold body, resting his chin on top of his head. 

"I mean as long as we're all up, I'll go make some hot cocoa." Geoff smiled and walked over towards the fridge. 

Ryan had dried himself fairly well, he wasn't dripping on to the floor anymore. "Hot chocolate sounds great right now." He said through chattering teeth.

"Go get changed Ryan," Jack said pushing him towards their room. "I don't want you getting sick again."

"Fine, Fine." He said with a smile as he headed back towards the large master bedroom.

"And we're going to talk about where you were at some point." Jack called after him.

"Okay mom." Ryan said.

Jack smiled as he watched Ryan leave and went to go help Geoff with the hot cocoa.

Gavin smiled up at Michael and whispered, "Look at Ray and Jeremy." 

Michael looked over to see that they were both asleep. Jeremy's head was nuzzled in the crook of Ray's neck and their arms were loosely draped around each other.

He smiled, "They're gonna miss the hot chocolate." 

Gavin grinned and buried his face into Michael's shirt.

Ryan walked out of the bedroom in some flannel pajama bottoms and a faded gray shirt. He sat down next to him and smiled. "You okay?" He asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

He nodded and grabbed Ryan's hand, interlacing their fingers. Ryan gave a gentle squeeze.

Geoff exited the kitchen carrying a tray of hot cocoa. Jack followed closely behind trying to make sure he didn't slip on the water on the floor. He set the hot cocoa down carefully on the table with a proud smile. It smelled delicious.

Michael grabbed a mug, feeling the warm ceramic in his hands and looked at his odd little family. A warmth grew in his chest as he thought about how much he loved each and every one of them. They had made it through something fucking awful, he thought, and they had survived. Sure they were battered and bruised, they had new nightmares and fears that kept them away at night, and almost everything they had owned had gone up in flames, but they had each had and as long as they had that, they'd be alright. He took a drink of his hot cocoa and closed his eyes. Everything would be alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is it. I've finished it and God it's been a journey. I hope you've all enjoyed it, I know I have. I do have plans for another long story and while I'm working on that I'll be taking requests on my tumblr (it's the same name I have on here) if you're interested and I will be posting shorter works as well. I want to thank everyone who read this and especially those who commented and cheered me on. I couldn't have done it without you. ~<3

**Author's Note:**

> If you've made it this far, thank you so so much! I really hoped you enjoyed it and there will be more to come. I would like to thank Creeper-Gavin-fic for helping me out and being so kind to me. The next chapter won't be as dark I promise. I'll try to get it posted soon, but I'm very busy this summer so be patient with me.


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